April 25, 2006Before we go slamming the Gas/Oil companies (not that they don't deserve some scrutiny), let's look at our own government's role in this issue.
NY charges a tax of 65 cents per gallon of gas. If we lowered or eliminated this tax gas would drop dramatically. We are already overtaxed...Governor Pataki could score some points for his successor if he did this.
The Federal Gas Tax is 18.4 cents per gallon of gas. Think about it! If we dropped both of these taxes, it'd drop 83 cents off the cost of gas. For families struggling this would be tremendous.
Posted by pboulay at April 25, 2006 04:24 PMI'm not so sure these taxes are unreasonable. I would set up the tax so that the cost of constructing, maintaining, expanding roads would be paid 100% through gas taxes. The more miles you drive, the more you contribute to road wear and congestion (and therefore the need to expand roads). Heavier vehicles wear the roadbed faster, but also tend to use more petrol/mile. Thus, the idea that having a per-gallon tax on gas is a reasonable (though not perfect) way of charging for road use/wear. What I don't know is how many cents/gallon would be required to generate this balancing income; it may be more or less than the 83 cents you quote. But I do know I pay $116/year to maintain half of the 40 foot section of lightly-used road in front of my house (this figure includes paving, plowing, overhaul every 50 years or so, and storm drains). So roads ain't cheap.
